In 2006, while a graduate student at Antioch University Seattle, there was an Open Space event where I tried to promote the idea of "replacing classrooms with diagnostic portfolios." A school is trying to teach specific things, so they should teach those things until point by point the students prove they know those things, and thus should abandon the classroom structure all together. Now, 10 years later, upper level admin are going rogue at MIT to do something very similar: http://www.chronicle.com/article/MIT-Dean-Takes-Leave-to-Start/235121?cid=trend_right_a
Think of swimming lessons. They have groups of student at different levels, and when a student has mastered the level they are on, they move on to the next level, not before, and not after. Because if you don't teach swimming this way people drown.
A friend of mine tried to put her 14 year old son in her more talented-when-it-comes-to-swimming 11 year old son's swimming level, because she just figured the 14 year old could handle it. He ended puking up water in the pool gutter from his constant barely not drowning he was doing instead of swimming, and back in the more novice swimming class. He lost his tolerance for swimming lessons all together, and now he and his brothers are doing parkour classes instead.
As students are plummeted forward through classes on a rigid time line they don't have time to develop, least bit maintain, demonstrable skill. They find challenging material overwhelming, and often abandon the subject all together.
Taking the subject of mathematics for example, it is impossibly demanding for a teacher to be expected to get every single student to learn every single thing over the course of the school year. The result is a loss of interest in mathematics from students, bad over all test scores for the school, and not enough well prepared students for the future workforce.
What if instead we taught Math like we do swimming lessons. Instead of dividing students into classes and years, divide them into weeks-long levels, with one teacher per level, and the students stay in that level until they are competent at that level. This does not require a development in curriculum, because we already have Khan Academy. Just as the rogue MIT administration has determined that lectures and classrooms are extremely outdated in the face of things like Wikipedia, Youtube and other internet resources, it's time to stop torturing students instead of teaching them:
Let me summarize the point for you clearly: If you make this about Trump's personality, (which is easy to do because his neon physical appearance, lifestyle, and criminality is so very larger-than-life,) you will make him much stronger politically. Remember when Hillary was content to let Trump hang himself with his own rope by letting him just keep talking? How well did that work for her?
Making this about Trump's villainy is handing the narrative right on over to him. Consider just for a moment the power of name recognition. Trump's name is out there now in an irrevocable way. He now has the most name recognition of any president in history. The best.
If he is what is in the mind of the voters, the voters will vote for him. All of this constant onslaught of attacking his moral character because of his amoral cabinet choices (military leaders, known racists and scam artists) plays into Trump's strategy, which is to simply keep the narrative all about him.
Obama's personality was over the top. First black president, played basket ball, attended Black Church. Smarmy-annoying-lawyer Chicago-Politician attitude. Impeccable political strategy. There was a lot to like there for metrosexuals, but what most lefties didn't realize, is there was even MORE there to HATE for ammosexuals!
McCain and Romney lost to Obama in very significant ways, because they got in what I call Obama's "personality vortex." The more corrupt, wall street, silver-spooned, drug using, pandering, Joker-like they made him out to be - the more they turned Obama into a super villain - the more Obama's victory was assured. "Bad press is better than no press" means that if your opponent isn't currently making headlines and you create a headline for him by attacking him, you have just done your opponent a huge favor.
Look at Ronald Reagan's personality vortex. It was so powerful that after his eight years he even got George H. W. Bush elected, far more potent than Obama's vortex. Even more perilously for the people of the USA, Bill Clinton's sax-playing personality vortex was so strong that he got reelected even as he passed overtly racist policies, pumping up the prison industrial complex, dismantling the public safety net, and sending jobs out of our country with NAFTA.
Now we are caught in Trump's personality vortex. It is exponentially stronger than even Reagan's was, and the progressives are not only going to lose 2020, but at this rate they will lose 2024 as well. Instead I strongly recommend the following strategies:
Talk about POLICIES, not about PEOPLE (unless they are your people, but then you must focus on policies all the more to compensate.) In the face of a Trump personality vortex, you must show why your IDEAS are better than their ideas, because in so far as this is about individual virtue, the bigger personality will win regardless of how virtuous they aren't.
Have policies that matter! Propping up Obamacare as it fails to contain health care costs was a fatal error for Hillary. Even though Medicare For All (espoused by Sanders) was seen as less politically viable - it is that very controversy that would have focused more attention on Hillary. More importantly, Medicare For All had it's own personality vortex as a policy that would have attracted votes. In today's era of mechanization and radical loss of jobs, the left should be all about Basic Income right now, but instead they flounder while Elon Musk is left to proselyte the idea on his own. Now that the Electoral College has proved to fail to protect us against demagogues, how is it that progressives aren't turning this slave-era form of voter suppression into a major political issue?
Point attacks AWAY from the opponent. It's NOT Trump's racist cabinet picks when the whole GOP stands by, holds their nose and nods - that is the entire GOP failing to protest Trump's appointing of racists and charlatans while militarizing our government. That isn't Trump, it's the whole GOP. Make them OWN that. More importantly, as with Medicare For All, it isn't just the GOP to blame, it is all of us: our country is out of touch with the fact it would be better for businesses (because of international competition with government subsidized health care for their employees) and individuals (who's insurance premiums are clearly raising faster than their taxes would have from a single payer system) alike to to have a single payer system.
Seize the Change brand, and hold on to it for dear life. Hillary's status-quo strategy was ill conceived from the beginning. Manufacturing jobs and fly-over states are so compromised that it will be a very long time before protecting the status quo will be a viable political strategy. How did the DEMOCRATS become the pro-war, pro-insurance, pro-corporate-oligarchy, defending status-quo party? That happened when the DNC thought conservatism would be a good way for a progressive party to win 2016. Wrong.
By death gripping the change brand, generalizing blame and focusing on policies that matter, it is far easier to draw attention to the more progressive candidate, steering clear of Trump's personality vortex, and by attrition making him seem like an old boring idea from the past, along with the GOP and their anti-people agenda. Don't let conservatives scapegoat Trump so they don't have to own their own garbage. Don't let progressives use Trump as an excuse for their own political ineptitude and lack of conviction. Every time you see some post or article demonizing Trump, remind them of the fact they are erring, drop something along these lines in the comments:
Though I certainly wouldn't ever vote for a Pyramid Scheme Pharaoh like Trump...
... I'm not convinced Hillary's nuclear winter would have been all that much better than Trump's global warming. When it comes to who won between two candidates who weren't Marco Rubio or Bernie Sanders (thanks to Hillary,) I am fairly neutral.
However, on the night of the 2016 election I asked friends "why isn't anyone talking about election fraud, considering the difference between 538 and the actual outcome of the election? This is strange considering that the FBI and Russians hackers have already messed with our politics this election." Trump aggressively protested the recounts with his usual bluster, and then some, with wild eyed comments about how he would have won the popular vote if it wasn't for supposedly "MILLIONS" of fraudulent votes. Does He Protest Too Much? Could it be that:
Russian hackers found a way to tamper with our election in ways not already discovered?
Trump doesn't want the focus on voter suppression to be associated with the electoral college?
The one case of voter fraud in 2016 was in favor of Trump, does he know of more cases?
Trump had non-Russian help electronically altering the vote results as the W had in 2000?
Since Trump was elected, he settled a fraud case for Trump University (not to be confused with ACN or Trump Network) for $25,000,000. What you have to realize is far more so than any previous President-elect, Trump is capable of extraordinary large-scale fraudulent schemes, and that this in fact is at the core of his business dealings that have given him fame. Not only did he disastrously have notorious MLM Pharaoh Michelle Van Etten speak at the GOP Convention this year...
... he has appointed none other than the Queen of the ultimate Pyramid Scheme, AMWAY, Betsy DeVos, to lead the US Department of Education (yikes, so much for effective business education.) Beyond that the most prominent Ponzi scheme in recent memory was the Bernie Maddoff's, and Trump's selected Treasury Secretary, Stephen Mnuchin, made over $3,000,000 off of that same scam. (Does that really sound like a good "treasury secretary" to you?)
When Ross Perot was the king of 3rd Parties, I was all about Ross. When Ralph Nader was the dominant 3rd Party candidate, I was all about Ralph. However this election both the Libertarian and Green Party candidates:
Did not dominate the majority of 3rd party voters.
Were both incredibly flaky, adding baggage that did not represent the interests of their parties (such as for example Jill Steins apparent aversion to use of Wifi and Screens in K-12.)
However Democrats are notoriously squeamish about street fighting over election quality, and this is exactly what cost Al Gore the election in 2000. I thought Hillary would at least stand up for herself which would have been consistent with her public image, but she apparently couldn't call in to concede quickly enough even though the election numbers didn't seem to make sense. Was she somehow conspiring with Trump on some secret agenda?
Crazy as she may be, at least Jill Stein actually believes in doing the right thing. When:
the president elect is a known con-man, and
he proceeds to promote other scammers just as far and wide as he possibly can, and
the election results were at odds with the most reliable polling analysis available (538), and
there had already been election manipulation by Russians AND
election manipulation by the FBI...
...an election recount is certainly in order. More important than any political agenda is the quality of the democracy our republic is built upon. We need to know exactly how much election manipulation there was, and exactly how it was done, in order to preserve the USA as a legitimate institution:
I am not saying this is healthy, or that you should be in the habit of eating this if you want to avoid an early grave. I am just saying that technically speaking, I have developed a whole-grain carrot cake recipe (this is for a huge cake, it would probably be a double recipe for most households):
Grated Carrots: 6 cups
Dry Ingredients:
4 tsp baking powder
4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp salt
5 tsp ground cinnamon
Wet Ingredients:
8 eggs
2 ½ cups of vegetable oil
5 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups of white sugar
Icing Ingredients:
16 oz Cream Cheese
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
32 oz powdered sugar
3 oz water
Preheat oven to 350
Oil & Flour a large baking pan.
In one bowl, mix dry ingredients.
In second bowl, mix wet ingredients.
Mix wet & dry ingredients together.
Mix in grated Carrots
Pour evenly into baking pan from step 2.
Place in preheated oven. Check at 50 minutes.
In third bowl, mix icing ingredients together until they form smooth icing.
After cake is done as has sat for one hour, carefully apply icing.
There is about an 8% difference between the popular vote victory for Hillary (1%) and the electoral college vote victory for Trump (7%). This represents a significant constitutional crisis that I believe will very soon erupt into Economic Civil War.
The problem is that when it comes to how we can live our personal lives, the Supreme Court of the USA is the ultimate authority, AND they are always selected by the President. To make matters worse, the Republican representatives in government just blocked Obama from getting a supreme court nomination for over twice as long as the last longest appointment took. Understand that Americans value freedom, and what is happening is that conservatives in rural areas have massive disproportionate power to dictate their inbred goat-raping values to people in diverse urban centers:
In other words, one Cowboy in Cheyenne gets to cancel Planned Parenthood, the Environmental Protection Agency, Marriage Equality and Right to Choose for over three tech workers in silicon valley, in spite of the fact California basically pays Wyoming's bills.
There are four possible resolutions:
State secession.
A constitutional amendment changing the way the USA selects its supreme court.
A voluntary adoption of the Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
A coerced adoption of the Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
Humor and jokes about the West Coast of the USA breaking off to join Canada in 2016 could be real policy proposals in a few election cycles, just as only humor and jokes in the past were the only sign of a President-elect Trump:
However, what is much more plausible is that the economic powerhouse that is the West Coast of the USA conspire to help the secession movement in TX help TX leave the union. When it comes to politics, the difference between the USA and Candada is Texas.
There are two ways a constitutional amendment could change the way Supreme Court Justices are chosen:
Shut down the electoral college and have the President chosen by popular vote.
Change the selection of Supreme Court Justices to popular vote instead of presidential nomination.
In our current political climate a constitutional amendment seems even less likely than state secession.
The Popular Vote Interstate Compact is a voluntary agreement that can be adopted into law by individual states, to change the way their electoral college votes are awarded to automatically going for whoever won the popular vote. It's obviously the right thing to do, the moral imperative. Unfortunately the attention-whore swing states and morally-bankrupt fly over states have resisted this gesture of civilization:
If the West Coast of the USA gets nasty enough, state and city boycotts can coerce states into signing on to the Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Florida is especially vulnerable because of their dependence on tourism, and when they fold the rest of the states-against-freedom will understand that the West Coast isn't playing around about this.
Sure there will be retaliation, sure there will be cries of panic in the fly over states and DC. But who cares? The USA used to have slavery and not allow women to vote, sometimes change is loud. It's time to take our engorged West Coast tits out of the mouths of these spoiled-baby fly over states and show them who pays the bills in the USA!
The reason why Trump and Obama energized the electorate was they represented change, unlike the elderly statesman John McCain, Mitt "White Obama" Romney or Hillary "Female Obama" Clinton. The American public, left and right, is incredibly unhappy with the status quo. Change is the new political paradigm.
It is important for Americans everywhere to start finding common ground on what change we want, and to start acting to create that change. We should do two things in order to get the change we want:
Find common ground.
Be incessant.
Considering the fact that the Hillary supporters eventually capitulated to most of the Sander's platform, and considering how enthusiastic the support was for Trump when the time finally came to actually vote and how enthusiastic so many Libertarians are about Trump, we can divide most politically minded Americans into two camps: Camp Trump and Camp Sanders. These two camps might have more in common than they have different. Both camps:
are shamelessly populist. Both strongly believe in the will of the people over special interests.
are pro-peace. Both sides want to see radical cuts in military spending and much less overseas military adventures.
want the economy in the USA altered to serve the working class.
are very suspicious of trade deals that put the interests of corporations over the interests of people.
want money out of politics.
want our Constitutional Rights to be respected.
want strong states rights so that people in South Carolina can live differently than people in California if they want to.
want medical costs under control.
want wide spread economic prosperity for basically everyone.
want to preserve cultural traditions.
want everyone to have a practical and affordable education.
want to prevent terrorism in the United States.
want everyone to use their time constructively.
want people with substance abuse problems in treatment, not in jail.
do not want to have to migrate to another town in order to survive.
want to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
want affordable health care.
love Elon Musk style innovations that create energy independence for the USA.
want medicaid expansion to replace Obamacare.
One place the left and right can act on common ground is, strangely enough, on Gun Control. Right now Trump is pushing a "Guns Everywhere" agenda. That is GREAT news for Gun Control advocates! Why? Because Texas - cowboy central - has the BEST gun regulation in the USA, called the "License to Carry" which applies to both concealed weapons AND open carry weapons. It includes finger prints, an extensive application, gun SAFETY training (to keep children from being shot accidentally,) AND weapon competency training (again to keep children from being shot accidentally):
This isn't even a compromise, it's a win/win between both Gun Control and 2nd Amendment activists!
Think big. Think past where the politicians have already gridlocked. For example, consider the Basic Income Elon Musk was recently talking about. Earned Income Tax Credit in the USA and the Alaska Permanent Fund are two CONSERVATIVE examples of this that ALREADY exist and are ALREADY popular with conservatives. Conservative Marco Rubio has tried to figure out to use an EITC system as an alternative to minimum wage. Basic Income could potentially replace:
Social Security
Food Stamps
Homelessness
Hunger in the USA
MINIMUM WAGE (massively increasing how easy it would be to start new businesses and non-profits)
Incarceration (it costs us $40,000 to keep someone locked up, and we do this for 1% of our population already. It is far more American to pay them $20,000 to obey the law in the first place, as with the Alaskan Permanent Fund Dividend.)
Unemployment benefits
Welfare (insofar as it still exists)
Every 100 years, 90% of jobs disappear to mechanization, and within the next few decades we should see all drivers (truck, delivery, taxi, uber, bus, school bus, etc.) replaced by self-driving vehicles. How are we going to retrain all those drivers? We are going to march them down to the local community college so they can learn computer programming to run driverless cars? Sorry, as always is the case with mechanization, there won't be enough new jobs to replace even 10% of those drivers.
This is America, a free country. These drivers WILL be able to find something constructive to do, IF they have a Basic Income to rely on after their jobs were mechanized, such as taking care of family members, volunteering, starting new projects, or otherwise contributing to their communities. But without Basic Income then they will be more likely to leech off unemployment, pretending to care about searches jobs they have no skills or interest in, learn to cook meth and smuggle heroine, launder cash and otherwise take society down with them.
Before you say "Basic Income will never happen in the USA" remember that:
It already is happening in the USA in the form of EITC, it is just not happening enough. The alternatives (SSI and EBT) are already very politically problematic.
The USA used to not give women the right to vote.
The USA used to have legalized slavery.
But nothing like win/win Gun Control or Basic Income is going to happen if we don't get aggressive with our political representatives. We need to get loud and stay loud about what we want. When politicians from the left AND right are getting significant pressure to change in the areas we find common ground, it will be easier to get the change we need:
There is only one person in this entire world who is responsible for the Democrats loosing 2016, and that is Hillary Clinton. This is true for three reasons:
She insisted on replacing Sander's best idea (Medicare for All) with her already failed idea (public option. See 4 below.)
I was very uneasy about this election for several reasons:
1 - 2 above.
Trump utterly dominated the media, it was all about him, all the time.
With what was perhaps the absolute apex of hubris, Hillary's campaign was "happy to let him have the attention of the media."
Hillary insisted on propping up Obamacare instead of going for Bearnie's "Medicare For All." Obamacare kept getting more expensive for individuals and businesses, while allowing the main culprits - the health care insurance companies - do as they please.
Hillary perpetuated culture war with her "deplorables" comment. That kind of elitism belongs in the GOP, not with progressives.
Hillary's high-price-tag hawkishness. Should my taxes really go to killing Arabic speaking children with American bombs?
And what really terrified me about her, kept me up at night, is that she basically represented no significant diversion from Obama's domestic policy - no actual change in a country starved for change.
Now Obama and Hillary are saying progressives should give Trump a chance? The same m*********** who is gutting the Environmental Protection Agency - are they so out of touch that they have some other place in mind besides Earth for humanity to live? After 8 years of obstructionism - we couldn't even get a supreme court justice appointed in over twice as long as it took to appoint the last one - now we should just stand by and watch Trump do what now exactly?
We are supposed to give Trump a chance, like the chumps who fell for Trump University and Trump Network? We are supposed to stand by while Russia and our own FBI are not held accountable for interfering with this election? We are supposed to capitulate in the face of a massive popular vote win in spite of a massive electoral college loss? THAT is what is best for DEMOCRACY?
It is time to clean house in the DNC (WARNING: foul language follows that is tamer than what I use in private on this same topic):
